To: marcos who wrote (985 ) 5/27/2003 1:25:08 PM From: Tommy Moore Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1293 Reuters WTO Rules for Canada in U.S. Dispute Tuesday May 27, 1:09 pm ET By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada said on Tuesday the World Trade Organization had ruled that lumber-cutting fee programs administered by its provincial governments were not subsidies as the United States claimed. Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew, in making the announcement, also said Ottawa remained open to resuming negotiations with Washington on resolving the long-simmering dispute over Canadian softwood lumber exports. "Yet again, it appears that the U.S. is being told that its attempts to prove that our softwood industry is subsidized are flawed," Pettigrew said. "We expect more results from our WTO and NAFTA challenges to U.S. harassment of our exports in the summer and fall. In the meantime, we remain open to resuming negotiations with the U.S. on the basis of a fair and reasonable settlement of the dispute." Tuesday's ruling relates to a U.S. decision to impose a permanent duty on timber shipments. Last year, the WTO ruled against the U.S. Commerce Department after it imposed a preliminary 18.79 percent countervailing duty on imports of Canadian softwood. The U.S. duty was then made final and this prompted another Canadian challenge, for which the interim ruling was made on Tuesday. Pettigrew's statement said a final report on the U.S. subsidy determination was expected in July. A Canadian industry source said the panel had struck down the U.S. Commerce Department's "cross-border" method for setting the countervailing duty and instructed the United States to come up with a new, legal method that would base the duty only on prices in Canada and not south of the border. Ottawa is also pursuing a separate review of the subsidy determination under the North American Free Trade Agreement, as well as additional challenges at both trade organizations on dumping and threats of injury. Canada has captured about one-third of the U.S. market, selling $6 billion a year of wood such as pine, spruce and fir, which is used in home building and remodeling